Papias a notable Gramarian of Lumbardie, verye learned in the Gréeke tongue, wrote a booke tituled Vocabilorum, and flouriſhed aboute Anno Chriſti. 1199. as ſayeth Seb. Munſter.
Papias alſo Biſhoppe of Hieropolitanus, a Citie in Aſia, beeing ouer againſt Laoditia, who was ſayd to be the Diſciple of Saint Iohn the Apoſtle and Euangeliſt, a man of ſingular learning, aboute the yeare after Chriſt. 132.
Plato, the Prince of Philoſophers (in wiſedome, knowledge, vertue, and eloquence, farre excéeding all other Gentiles) was borne in Athens, his Father was named Ariſton, béeing of an auncient and honourable houſe, his mother Parectonia, deſcended from the lignage of the grane Solon, lyeng in his Cradle, Bées were founde to bring Honnie into his mouth, without hurting the childe: his diuinours did interprete to ſignifie, that from him there ſhoulde flowe eloquence moſt ſwéet and delectable.
¶ Before I paſſe farther to ſpeak of this Heathen Philoſopher, I doe much meruaile (yet vnder the diſcipline of the lerneder ſort) why diuers other famous men, concerning their learnings & wiſedomes of later yeares (and alſo Chriſtians) notwithſtanding no leſſe ſuperſtitious then thoſe Pagan Gentiles were Idolatrous, why many be left out and not repeated as Authors, as well as theſe farre fetched Philoſophers, ſéeing that they deſerue by the ballaunce of equitye no leſſe renowme, as if they were learned and wiſe, yet were they no Chriſtians, or beléeuing Iewes. If thoſe of our time (as by my Cataloge ſhall appeare) were as learned, wiſe, and diſcréete concerning writing, and yet ſuperſtitions: as you refuſe not the Gentile becauſe of his Idolatrye, refuſe not the Chriſtian becauſe he is ſuperſtitious, for in diſdayning the ſuperſtition of the one, and accepting the Idolatrye of the other, you doe then maintaine the old errour and condempne the new vice, take therefore of both of them that which is requiſite concerning knowledge and learning, and refuſe both (as it is neceſſarye) concerning Idolatrie and ſuperſtition. As for example, betwixt Plato and Patrike, Rabanus and Pythagoras, &c. I omit héere the wonderfull dreame of Platoes Father, and lykewiſe Platoes amorous vearſes, which after hée came to heare Socrates, hée threw into the fire and burned, hee heard the Philoſophers and Geometritians of Greece, & afterward went into Italy, Affrik, and Aegypt, to heare the diuine and myſticall ſciences, and it is alſo thought that he hearde ſome of the Prophets, (about which time was Ieſus the ſonne of Sirach,) ſince there hée founde in his workes ſentences not abhorring from our Catholyke faith, hée was expert in martiall affayres, he choſe a place by Athens called Accademia, where hée taught, and therfore his Diſciples were called Accademici, there was in him a meruailous ſharpneſſe of wit, with an incomperable dexteritie in diſputing, and making aunſweres, &c. He dyed writing, of the age of 81. yeres, before the incarnation of Chriſt. 342. yéeres.
Plateaurius Medicus.
Permenides or Parmenides a Philoſopher of Athens, about the yeare before. Chriſt thrée hundered and fiftye yeares, the Diſciple of Anaxagoras, he was a Philoſopher of noble parentage.
Plautus a Comicall Poet, borne in Vmbria, a parte of Italy, when he had ſpent all his ſubſtaunce on players garments, and thereby was brought to extreame pouertye, hée was faine for his liuing to ſerue a Baker, in tourning a Querne of hand mill, yet wrote hée eloquent and pleaſaunt Comedyes, he was in the time of Cato Cenſorius, an hundered ninetye and thrée yeares before Chriſt.
Perſius the name of two learned Romanes. Alſo there was one Perſius, a Satyricall Poet, Flaccus Aulus, the ſonne of Flaccus and Fuluia of Ethrurie or Hetruſcum, which is the Countrye of Tuſcan,
